(Bilingual English-French edition) When a little boy wakes up with a dry throat, those around him run about trying to work out what caused the condition. One by one, servants, doctors, and medical students try remedies that only complicate the situation and make the condition worse, ignoring what readers will see as the obvious solution. This is one of a series of illustrated books for the young written by the Afghan philosopher and educator Idries Shah, whose collections of narratives and teaching stories have captivated the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. It belongs to a rich storytelling tradition from Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East that is more than 1,000 years old. Teaching stories are designed specifically to foster thinking skills and perception. They suggest in their structure and in the movement of their characters ways of looking at difficulties that can help solve them. This story illustrates in a very humorous way just how foolish people can be when they fail to consider a situation before springing into action.

(?dition bilingue anglais-fran癟ais) Un petit gar癟on se r矇veille un matin avec la gorge s癡che. Toutes les personnes de son entourage se d矇m癡nent pour trouver la cause du mal dont il souffre. Les uns apr癡s les autres, serviteurs, m矇decins et 矇tudiants en m矇decine essayent des rem癡des qui ne font que compliquer les choses et aggraver le mal, laissant de c繫t矇 ce que le lecteur voit comme 矇tant la solution 矇vidente. C'est un des titres de la collection de livres illustr矇s pour les jeunes 矇crits par le philosophe et 矇ducateur afghan Idries Shah, dont les recueils de r矇cits et d'histoires-enseignements ont captiv矇 le coeur et l'esprit de lecteurs de tous horizons. Il s'inscrit dans une tradition f矇conde et plus que mill矇naire de storytelling qui a sa source en Afghanistan, en Asie centrale et au Moyen-Orient. Cette histoire illustre de fa癟on tr癡s humoristique ? quel point les gens peuvent se montrer stupides quand ils ne prennent pas la peine de r矇fl矇chir avant d'agir.